Taking handheld power tools performance to the next level with advanced materials

In the handheld power tool industry, innovations to bring higher efficiency/power density to the market have been limited due to space constraints—most handheld power tools have a very compact design.

The many limitations you face in the handheld power tool market

For years, bringing innovations to bring higher efficiency and power density to the handheld power tools market has been limited due to a variety of challenges, such as:

• Power density or torque cannot be increased without adding copper wire length to the coil wraps—adding length is costly and adds resistivity (heat)
• The effectiveness of copper wire gauge to reduce resistance is limited due to tight volume design spaces
• Typical e-motors using common insulation materials like glass filled PA66 are limited to thick wall molding to 6mm or thicker
• OEMS and suppliers continue to use nylon GF 66 (PA66)

To increase power density or torque, additional copper wire wrap must be added to the coil, but adding length is costly and adds resistivity. The effectiveness of the copper wire gauge to reduce resistance is limited because of the tight design spaces. Also, when using insulating materials like glass filled PA66, resulting injection molded wall thickness is limited to ~0.6mm or thicker. Although this is the case, most OEMS and suppliers continue to use nylon GF 66 (PA66). 

These limitations are resulting in handheld power tools that aren’t reaching their full power potential. You have probably seen handheld power tool performance limitations exposed in social media challenges that ultimately affect sales. Although you—OEMS and suppliers—are accustomed to using PA66, it is time to consider better advanced material options for e-motors that will meet and exceed power tool performance needs.

Advanced materials that allow you to get the most performance out of power tools

When you use fast cycling, flow enhanced, injection molded Stanyl® PA46—a commercially proven solution for high temperature mechanical performance with high stiffness and strength, and low creep—as the rotor or stator insulator, space is freed up to add larger wire gauge to the coil, reducing resistance and increasing power density. Optimizing e-motor performance and maximizing torque and efficiency requires extreme thin wall molding performance, down to 0.2 mm, and Stanyl enables you to mold such thin walls.

Also, in many cases, weld lines are unavoidable, especially in over molded rotors and stators. A loss of toughness and strength in thin wall molded components is a concern, especially where the 2 flow fronts converge. Failure would likely negatively affect manufacturing yield. When utilizing Stanyl’s nearly transparent thin wall molding potential, brush cards or carriers can be produced with the most compact design possible and with robust performance to survive the strain of assembly and the life of the motor.

To take handheld power tool performance to the next level, Stanyl® is your material of choice offering you:

• Thin wall moldings (less than .20 mm)
• More design options for compact spaces
• Enables the use of larger gauge copper wire for power density, and lower resistance
• Proven solution for high-temperature mechanical performance exceeding 160°C
• Outperforms other aliphatic polyamides
• Best-in-class mechanical performance at peak operation temperatures

Bringing you value and performance during the manufacturing process

When using Stanyl, you can benefit from:

• A material reduction of greater than 50% vs. PA66 = reduced material costs
• Up to 40% faster injection molding cycles vs. PA66 = reduced manufacturing costs
• Added copper windings on the coils without added length vs. PA66 = added torque performance
• Larger gauge wire vs. PA66 = less electrical resistance = higher efficiency (less resistance)
• Higher manufacturing yields vs. LCP (less line breakage) = reduced manufacturing costs

Stanyl material grades are available as glass fiber reinforced grades, high flow grades, high flow FR grades and high flow FR halogen free grades.